Since starting this blog, I now must endure story after story of poor experiences in restaurants by friends and loved ones.  My students tell me that I have ruined eating out for them, because they spend all of their time looking around at all of the mistakes taking place.

Not my fault!

You can’t blame me, I tell them, because I actually spend most of my time in restaurants trying not to look around!  I’m lucky if my wife or kids let me open my eyes.  They have gone so far as to request a menu in braille.  My dear father, however, had to share this one with me:  The cook who argues with the server within earshot of the customer.  Yikes.

My father is retired, and eats out for breakfast and lunch virtually every day.  Romeos we call them.  Retired Old Men Eating Out.  Someday, that will be me.  But, not yet, I am not in that much of a rush.

Paying customer

So, my folks are out to breakfast, at one of the many places they have found and frequent, and my mom orders her bacon crispy–as she does every time she eats at this place.  My parents can hear the cook yelling at the server as if it were the server’s fault that a paying customer likes their food a certain way.

Whatevs, my dad thinks, they will work it out.  (Although I doubt my dad actually thought, ‘whatevs’.)  The bacon comes out with the rest of the food and is as limp as possible.  Almost as if it was the cook saying,  “F*** you, Ms. customer.”

My father, (now you know where I get it), carries the plate back to the kitchen and says, “Does anyone here know how to cook?”  “Cuz if not, I am happy to cook it myself.”  God love him.

Where is Tom going with this you might ask, but I do have a point.  The lack of management presence allows this kind of situation to arise and be ever-present.  If you are the owner, or the manager, or the chef on duty during service–get your butt out on that floor! 

How dare you!

How dare you let your cooks talk to your staff in such a manner.  The servers are just trying their best to do what is right for the customer–your customer!  Without your presence, and your support, the inmates are running that asylum, and it will be closed soon enough.

If that’s your goal, fine.  However, I doubt very seriously that you want this kind of behavior taking place in your establishment.  So do something about it.  Be present!